1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile system including a facsimile apparatus and a telephone apparatus, in which the telephone apparatus is furnished externally with respect to the facsimile apparatus and shares one telephone line with the facsimile apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A facsimile apparatus is developed to be reduced in its size and weight nowadays. Especially, as a facsimile apparatus of a low cost and low grade model for the ordinary household use, such a facsimile apparatus as can be externally connected to the conventional telephone apparatus and has only a basic facsimile function, is being well developed.
In this kind of facsimile apparatus for the ordinary household use, the facsimile apparatus shares one telephone line with the telephone apparatus.
Accordingly, in one type of such a facsimile apparatus, when the call is requested to the relevant telephone number, the operator firstly hears and checks the sound outputted from the speaker of the handset of the telephone apparatus by himself, and manually starts either the facsimile receiving operation by use of the facsimile apparatus (facsimile receiving mode) or the conversation by use of the telephone apparatus (conversation mode).
The inventors of the present invention know a developed type of the facsimile apparatus having a TEL/FAX automatically switching function, in which the facsimile apparatus is adapted such that the conversation mode is firstly set when the call arrives, that is to say, the telephone line is firstly automatically connected to the telephone apparatus through the facsimile apparatus so as to ring the telephone apparatus for the predetermined times. Then, the facsimile receiving mode is subsequently set, that is to say, the telephone line is automatically connected to the facsimile apparatus so that it can start the facsimile receiving operation, if the operator does not respond to this ringing sound by picking up the handset (OFF hook) during the conversation mode. Thus, in this case, if the calling station is a telephone apparatus, the operator can not establish the conversation of the telephone apparatus any more, since the telephone line is not connected to the telephone apparatus in this facsimile receiving mode, which is a problem in the practical use of this type of facsimile system.
The inventors of the present invention know another developed type of the facsimile apparatus, which has a reringing function to overcome this problem. Namely, this facsimile apparatus judges whether the calling station is a facsimile apparatus or a telephone apparatus by checking the CNG (Calling Tone) signal, which is supposed to be generated and transmitted from the facsimile apparatus. If it is found that the calling station is a telephone apparatus, the facsimile apparatus generates a pseudo-ringing sound by an exclusive pseudo-ringing device provided in the facsimile apparatus so as to ring up the operator at the site of the facsimile apparatus.
In this facsimile apparatus provided with the pseudo-ringing function, the sound can be generated only at the site of the facsimile apparatus i.e. not at the site of the telephone apparatus. Thus, if the telephone apparatus is located near the facsimile apparatus, the sound generated by the facsimile apparatus can be heard at the site of the telephone apparatus as well by the operator without any problem. However, if the telephone apparatus is located remote from the facsimile apparatus, the pseudo-ringing sound can not be heard by the operator who is in the vicinity of the telephone apparatus, which is the problem in this type of facsimile apparatus. Since the telephone apparatus is often located to such a remote place especially in case of the cordless telephone, which is being well developed nowadays, this problem is quite serious in a practical sense.
On the other hand, in case of a facsimile apparatus of a high cost and high grade model for the business use, the facsimile may be provided with many sophisticated functions such as a telephone line holding function, and a call requesting function to call the telephone apparatus, which is externally furnished with respect to the facsimile apparatus, just in the same manner as the calling station calls the telephone apparatus via the telephone exchange through the telephone line. Namely this facsimile apparatus can make the telephone apparatus ringing even when the call request signal from the telephone exchange through the telephone line is not inputted to the facsimile apparatus. Thus, this facsimile apparatus is adapted to ring the external telephone apparatus whenever it is necessary in the TEL/FAX automatically switching operation i.e. to make a real ringing sound of the telephone apparatus, in place of the above mentioned pseudo-ringing sound generated by the facsimile apparatus.
Accordingly, the operator can hear this real ringing-sound at the site of the telephone apparatus even if it is located remote from the facsimile apparatus, without the above mentioned problem.
However, in case of such a sophisticated facsimile apparatus of a high cost and high grade model for the business use, the body of the facsimile apparatus itself becomes very large, and it is also very expensive for the ordinary household use.